What if you don’t find anyone within your organization to fill the position? You will need to work with the human resources department to create an ad to place in career Web sites and local newspapers. You may also want to extend the search beyond these traditional sources. If the position is entry level, you may want to advertise in local high school or college job placement offices and job fairs. If you are looking for an experienced professional, you may want to advertise in a professional association group’s trade magazine as well as list the position with an executive recruiter.
If you work in a large organization, you won’t be the first person to see the resumes that are received in answer to the ad. Most HR managers will prescreen incoming applications, dividing them into two piles: possibles and impossibles. A resume will wind up in the impossible pile if the applicant lacks critical skills, education, or experience; is vastly overqualified or underqualified for the position; or asks for a specific salary or opportunities for advancement that cannot be met.
If your firm doesn’t have an HR professional to review incoming resumes, the task of reviewing replies may be yours. It can be time consuming, depending on the number of replies.
However you get your pile of possible applicants, read carefully both their covering letters and resumes. Be alert to four key elements: work history, education, technical competence, and motivation. Look, too, for gaps and inconsistencies in the resumes. Breaks in chronology and inconsistencies in the facts provided may be due to simple error, or they could be clues to a candidate’s attempt to falsify or hide information. Check the resume to see if any periods of time are unaccounted for. Do periods of employment overlap with periods in education? Be prepared to give candidates the benefit of the doubt, but compile a list of questions to help clarify any inconsistencies you discover.
As you review the resumes, consider not only how well the candidates will fit the job but also how well they will fit your organization. Even if your staff members work independently of each other, they still are part of a group.
As you look through your stack, you may want to cull it by making some phone calls to the applicants. Because resumes generally don’t tell the whole story for most candidates, it is not a bad idea to further prescreen all potential interviewees by asking a few questions over the phone.
Before you pick up the phone, prepare questions that address areas that are not clearly enough laid out in the resume. List your questions with room to write the responses. For instance, the resume says, “Improved productivity by 15 percent.” Ask, “How did you do this?” Then tell the applicant a little about the job (not too much, just enough to expand on the ad). If you are both interested in having an interview, then you can invite the applicant to come in.
Whatever your decision, you need not mention it on the phone. Thank individuals for their time and promise to get back to them.